The same night of cake adventure hunting before we went to Grand Hyatt’s Mezza9. My secret food partner and i went in to Marriot pastry shop at the lobby to inquire whether they have any promotions for their cakes, but they only have half price for their pastries. And the staff were already packing up, so there’s only a few selections left.
Banana Muffin ($1.50 after half price) Such a big muffin for only $1.50, grab one after 9pm!
Muffin ($1.50 after half price) We brought two muffin since there were two types left.
Almond Crossiant ($1.75 after half price) The nice look of the almond chips on the crossiant is what tempted us to bring it home.
Total bill for 2 muffins and 1 crossiant is $4.98 after half price promotion. Reasonably cheap for hotel standards pastries, sorry for the lack of details because we had the cakes from Mezza9 and were too full for the pastries here. My secret food partner took it home, and they were gone in an instant.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Wessex village, a tranquil and peaceful estate in the leafy Portsdown Road area is no stranger to the art scene in Singapore. Recently, with the entry of some new restaurants, it is slowly becoming the “It” place to be.
This will be good news for my fellow “west-erners” since LIC always lament the fact that the east side has more good food. With Holland Village, Chips Bee garden, Greenwood Avenue, Sunset way, Rochester Park, and now Wessex Village, who says there isn’t good places to chill in the West!
But this may not be music to the ears to some others, people who enjoyed the quaint environment and would rather preferred Wessex Village not to become the next Dempsey, over-rated and over-populated.
Have no fret about that, because currently in Wessex Village, there is only Pietrasanta an Italian restaurant, Laurent’s Cafe & Chocolate Bar, Klee a cocktail bar, and Colbar a very old-school coffee shop.
My friend and i explored the serene area, we checked out Pietrasanta but my friend wasn’t in the mood for Italian delights, but the place looks great and will definitely try it the next time round.
We decided on Cicada, an art centric casual restaurant lounge.
Nestled amid lush green vegetations, Wessex Village is a colonial style residential area surrounded by open space and trees to provide a soothing and relaxing ambience.
The building structure there are mostly colonial style, and this is the same for Cicada in a colonial type of bungalow building.
Al fresco area in Cicada is also spacious and roomy, which makes it a great place for friends to chill out under the the natural environment surrounded by greens, the village feel.
A large group of Caucasians chilling out, but don’t be quite mistaken by this scene. According to the manager Ronald, their main customers are actually locals and not Caucasians, and most of them are people from other area rather than the residents in Wessex estate.
Seafood Mango Salad ($13.90) Marinated seafood and honey balsamic dressing makes up the Seafood Mango Salad. The mango is sweet, and the prawn springy. The greens together with the sweet honey balsamic dressing opens up your taste bud for the meal.
Sauteed Organic Mushrooms ($5.90) Mushrooms are always a tricky dish, cook for too long and the mushroom becomes over-cooked, while finish it too early the mushroom will fail to absorb the essence of the other ingredients.
The Sauteed Organic mushrooms have a slight hint of white wine, wild herbs and tomato taste.
Smoothie Oreo ($12) The Oreo Smoothie isn’t good enough, the oreo bits are left too big to go through the straw, usually they will be crushed and mixed with milk. We gave the feedback and the manager Ronald told us the reason was due to fault in the blender that day.
However it is still quite unforgivable as this is a restaurant after all, and the least they can do is to notified us about the problem which unfortunately, they didn’t.
Butter Croissant toast with smoked salmon ($13.90) The butter croissant toast besides with the smoked salmon, comes with alternatives in ham, bacon or sausages. The greens in the toast complement the smoked salmon salty taste.
However, we lamented the fact that the croissant toast is not cripsy enough, the bread is too soft, and same for the green. We felt that it will be better if there is crunchier greens like cucumber added in, for a more complete taste.
The mayonnaise sauce also threatens to spoil the smoked salmon, fresh avocado sauce will perhaps be a better option to go along with the smoked salmon. The sandwich is an otherwise good and hearty dish, if Cicada can improve on the small issues.
Penne Pasta with seafood ($24.50) The most expensive pasta on the menu, no doubt so with the ocean prawn, scallops and calamari in spicy marinara sauce. Different type of pasta suits different type of base, tomato base spaghetti is the only choice to go with it. Well for a spicier version, the penne pasta works well.
The first savor of the Penne pasta with seafood is excellent, the spicy sauce together with the oceanic taste floods our taste bud. However, the dish seems to lack in something, because after a while we got a little sick of the dish as it starts to be overwhelming.
Cicada Club Sandwich ($15.90) The Cicada Club sandwich consists of bacon, lettuce, tomato, weisswurst sausage in focaccia bun. The bacon and sausage is decent, but again the use of mayo sauce here doesn’t quite complement the ingredients. Mayo will be better off when paired up with fried stuff.
Total Bill is $96.90 for the 2 of us. I think we sort of over-ordered given we had two appetizer, two sandwich, a pasta and a drink. The sandwich ranges in the tens, while pastas are in tens to twenty. The drink is definitely no go, while the sandwiches can really be better. And for once, i didn’t have any room for desserts.
I checked out the dinner menu as well, while lunch at Cicada is causal and simple food, dinner is more sophisticated with more selections of mains in the high twenty range. According to the manager, the atmosphere for dinner is more romantic and the area more closed up for more coziness.
We found the day-time area to be too ‘open’. Cicada should be going for the french open space concept, but this does not really encourage longer stay because the space is too bare and open. We believed that a more enclosed area, using different type of curtains can just do the trick.
All in all, Cicada promises a lot with its art-centric causal restaurant tag, but we ended up quite disappointed. Cicada certainly can be better, and hopefully the next time i dropped by Wessex, it will be a very different Cicada.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
” The next time, hopefully a very different Cicada “
People always say, never eat cakes after 9.30pm! But who cares about the calories that comes along with the sinful indulgence? LIC says, have your cake and eat it! Especially since premium hotel cakes are going at half price after 9.30pm!
My secret food partner and i decided to go on a cake-hunt as we recalled that some hotels have half price promotions on their cakes after a certain timing. We went to Marriot hotel first, after which we found ourselves at Grand Hyatt, Mezza9.
Tiramisu ($7, half price $3.5) The Tiramisu here is reasonably moist, laced with a hint of coffee flavor that doesn’t overpower the sweet mascarpone. I like the subtle taste, as some tiramisu has a very strong wine taste.
Black Forest ($5, half price $2.5) The huge cherry on top of the Black Forest was what tempted my secret food partner to buy it. Ttogether with the chocolate shavings by the side, its a delight to look at and eat. At such a huge slice, even at its original price of $5 its worth a try.
Strawberry Cheesecake ($5, half price $2.5) Classic baked cheese cake with a strawberry jelly topping complete with ginormous (gigantic & enormous) strawberries! The oreo cookie base makes us felt like we were eating a cheesecake duo, we can taste the classic cheese cake flavor, and if eaten together with the oreo base, the taste becomes oreo cheesecake!
The Strawberry cheesecake itself was very filling though, creamy and rich!
Caramel cake ($4, half price $2) We came to a common consent that the caramel cake is our least favourite among the four cakes. For one, it doesn’t have the caramel taste, rather there’s a strong hint of coffee. If you like coffee cake, this is probably the one to get.
Nevertheless, it look pretty and its the cheapest at $2 after half price promotion!
Croissants ($2, half price $1) Besides the cakes, the baking items are also at half price after 8.30pm. We got the croissants for a dollar after promotion.
Total Bill is a mere $11.50 for 4 slices of cakes and 1 bread. The cakes at Mezza9 although not in the excellent league, but its definitely your premium hotel cakes after all, and at half price promotions they are certainly a steal!
Takeaway temptations, bring home Mezza9 freshly homemade products and enjoy half prices on bakery items from 8.30pm and sliced cakes from 9.30pm daily. 15% discount is also offered for whole akes from 9.30pm.
LIC will be looking to explore many more hotels to enjoy the half price promotions! Cakes and more cakes!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Island cafe at the Tangs shopping mall at Vivocity. You might find the association of Island cafe and Tangs weird, isn’t Tangs the fashion lifestyle retailer? What does Island cafe has to do with it?
Recently we have seen the rebranding of Tangs, from the old perception of Tangs is a boring place to shop, to the new image of a hip and lifestyle concept retailer store.
Naturally, Tangs wanted its customers to stay longer in its shopping mall, so it came out with Island Cafe for its customers to enjoy a little meal in between their shopping sprees. Tangs is not the first to come out with such ideas by combing food and shopping, think PS cafe and you will get the idea.
Island Cafe features a medley of local and regional favourite food, with choices like curry chicken, laksa, showing evidence of the “asian-ness”
The place at Vivocity is at ground floor within their shopping area. Exuding a rustic and tropical feel, there’s a cozy ambience factor with the small enclosed area.
Having heard about Island Cafe, naturally i was curious about how it’s like as i have never come here before. We decided to give the place a try while we are at Vivocity.
One look at the menu though, i immediately regretted coming in. Reason is simple, the menu selection is too little seriously. They got two choices of starters with the crab bisque as one. Two sandwiches, and two pizzas to choose from. There is four main course selection, laksa, curry chicken, green curry marinara, and black pepper aglio olio. And thats it!
We didn’t quite fancy the items available on the menu, but since we were there already, we just ordered their Guacamole & seafood pizza to share among the three of us.
Guacamole & seafood pizza ($12) Guacamole, prawns, crabmeat, tomatoes, tomatoes paste and mozzarella make up the Gucamole & seafood Pizza. It comes in two price, $9 for the 5.5″ snack size, and $12 for the 8″ meat size.
The pizza is all right i guess, quite cheesy, with the pizza base thin. But i suppose at $12, you can easily find better pizzas around for a bigger size.
Total Bill is $14.04 for one pizza. I definitely will not go back to Island Cafe because the selections are simply too few and too little. Prices are acceptable considering its a cafe, but most of the choices seems more like hawker-type of food.
Besides the one located within Tangs at Vivocity, there’s also another Island Cafe at Tangs in Orchard.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Seng Kee Black Herbal Chicken Soup is located just opposite Kembangan MRT station. I happened to chance upon this zi-char restaurant because my friends had cravings for their mee-sua.
So another venture into the east side of Singapore for LIC, as i stay in the west and the east is so far away. But there are simple too much good food in the area, so you will be seeing more food from the east in the future!
The zi-char store has all of its seat on the street, its rather cooling but when bad weather comes then it will be very difficult as i don’t think there are much shelter from rain.
The store has quite a few selections of fish available for customers to choose, and with the method of cooking the fish. But we didn’t have any fish because we ordered crab already.
Mee Sua ($3.50) The rendition of Mee sua at Seng Kee comes in a stronger flavour than the normal ones, with ingredients like pig kidneys, mushroom in it. The mee sua is smooth and silky to the mouth.
We had 5 bowls for each of us, and i saw most tables ordering this dish and at $3.50 its definitely worth a try.
Egg Omelette ($8) $8 for an egg omelette dish at a zi-char store might be a tad too expensive, if I’m not wrong egg dishes usually are about 6 bucks? Nevertheless, the egg omelette is quite good and we finish it very fast.
Crab Bee Hoon ($38) The crab bee hoon is usually done in soup, but here at Seng Kee they do it “dry”. We were quite shocked at the size of the crab when it came because usually crabs at zi-char stores goes in the region of $30 for 1kg?
But the one that we had is $38, and the small crab that we had is definitely not 1kg. I felt ripped off as the price tag is certainly too expensive for the size of the crab.
The bee hoon is not bad though, as it absorbs all the essence of the crab and all the juicy wet part is at the bottom of the bee hoon.
Total bill including drinks for 5 person comes up to $76.80. At initial look, for a zi-char store and considering we had 5 person, its definitely not expensive. But, looking at the amount of food that we had, the crab bee hoon was definitely over-priced.
I’m not too sure about their other dishes as i have not tried them and it will not be fair to judge base on this experience. But their mee sua is worth a try, do give their crab bee hoon a miss.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Ma Maison, which means my home in French, started out with an outlet at Bugis Junction and soon expanded to include one at The Central. Known for its take on Japanese Western food aka fusion food, Ma Maison packs in the crowds at meal times so don't be surprised if you have to wait for a seat if you arrive without a reservation.
Located just a few units down from Wakashachiya on the third floor, Ma Maison's interior is reminiscent of a quaint little European cottage with lots of wood, overhanging crockery and shelves of various liquids. The cozy cottage feel is further reinforced by replica ornaments of yesteryear placed along the wooden window sill. If you are lucky enough, you can get a window seat which overlooks Clarke Quay and the river, but there's probably only 5 such tables or so.
Doteni Hamburger - A signature dish of Ma Maison, the Doteni Hamburger was essentially a beef and pork patty covered with a fried egg, topped with beef tendons and draped with a demi glaze sauce that has been left to simmer for 28 days. And I liked it. The beef, though almost well done, was moist and juicy with a slightly uneven texture. The egg was perfectly done while the gelatinous beef tendon came across as a little chewy and not overly soft. Coupled with the robust sauce, it set the right note for our lunch.
Tonakatsu - After the horrendous tonkatsu experience at Wakashachiya just a couple of hours before, I was rather skeptical about the tonkatsu at Ma Maison. Those fears were put to rest as the pork cutlet turned out fine and surpassed expectations. Sure the meat wasn't kurobuta like Tampopo's, but it was still decently tender while retaining moisture and bite. There was no evident taste of oily residue either. The breaded batter could have been a wee bit thinner though, which would have made it crispier and less oily.
Beef Stroganoff with Omu Rice - My personal favourite. Who can resist tender beef slices served up in a thick savoury sauce coupled with smooth milky omelette enveloping fragrant and tasty buttery rice? If I'm coming back to Ma Maison, its definitely going to be for this dish. I would prefer a little more butter to go into the rice though, which would make it heartier and of course more artery clogging.
Squid Ink Spaghetti - Honestly I didn't quite take to the spaghetti. It wasn't al dente and came across rather bland. Maybe thats the way Japanese spaghettis are supposed to taste like, unlike the richer and more robust renditions from the Italians. If you like light stuff then this dish would probably suit you but do note that squid ink leaves a dark stain on your teeth so remember to rinse!
NOTICE!!!!! MOS IS CLOSED. REFER TO REVIEW OF ZIRCA ___________________________________________
Hmm, Funny, no one reviewed MOS!
Alright. I am going to give 2 perspectives on this review. Both on same day different date, almost same event, same amount of crowd.
General Comment:
Personally I hold due respect for MOS as the birthplace of one of my favourite genres of music: TRANCE (not MOS SG though). To my dismay, MOS Sg's crowd is a R&B, HipHop loving crowd and I was sad to see the crowd literally overcrowding at that area. Seriously they could do better playing those MOS exclusive tracks and start taking Trance seriously and not just to be another corporate sell-out again. This is MOS for heaven's sake. The TRANCE place right? not Hiphop place...argh.
1. As a normal young adult clubber:
My Dressing: Standard Female Clubbing attire.
-Queue is bloody long, waiting time is horrible. -Door b**** is also very rude (pardon my word use, i don't know the other term). -Gives a makes-you-very-pissed face when checking your ID. -Payment bloody long. -Terrible congestion at the entrance. -Coupon/ticket oso can give wrong amounts (I paid for 3pax she gave me 2 pax) -Place is overcrowded and I don't know why they still allow entry. -Baggage counter FULL, and the baggage girl gave a sickening stare and yelled "FULL YOU DONO HOW TO READ ISIT?" -Dancefloor was like a metal concert with jumping space only. -Tons of people trying to touch/dance with you even after you say no to that same person/group. -Straight faced bouncers giving you a GL face as if your forehead says "I AM NOT A VIP SO WHAT?" at the VIP section. -Toilet bloody dirty and smelly, no toilet paper, omfg. -Coupon to drink exchange experience, TOOK FOREVER and damn it bartenders!
2. VIP and Cannery Card member
My Dressing: V neck cleavage tee, Lee Jeans, Birkinstock SLIPPERS, no makeup. Slacker wear.
-at the VIP short or sometimes no queue, fast and efficent entry. -minus payment cos I am VIP/member. -Dancefloor as many people. -Same old lame thick skin gang of people. -Very charismatic bouncers at the VIP/members area opening up the area for you as if you have the word "VIP/member" on your forehead. They even chat with you lol. - Purchasing/ordering a drink at VIP/members area: Charismatic bartenders attentively asking what you need and what is not available politely. Efficient cashiers even remembers to give me a discount. - Area in VIP/members area small, cosy but still have some space for random dancing. -Same toilet.
Seriously I don't know what to say about the double standards. Maybe trying to make their membership worthwhile? And I also don't know how to rate this place.
Last year I tried this branch, after being a fan of ichiban for its service, affordability and standard (not for variety though).
To my dismay, the service was rather sluggish, and they were not attentive at all. Food was not as good as the Plaza Sing one, soft shell crab was not crisp.
I gave it a second chance last week and I am really happy they took my feedback seriously.
I was greeted by a heartwarming and jovial crew, and they looked really busy and always on the look out to top up the tea, none was really slacking off.
Variety wise, it improved with its selection of sushi, but the others were like, any other.
Their waitresses proved to be very sweet and attentive, asking if we don't like anything in the meal, while making great recommendations although we already knew what we wanted...just testing her. She sounded like Ichiban's number one fan as if she tried everything.
As we always order the same old stuff, I was quite impressed that the standard is still there. (Although I wished that it will returned to its old 'atas' standard before it got franchised.)
Afterwhich she cleared everything that we finished, and upon eye contact she got the bill over.
I was an idiot for not asking for her name though.
Not saying Ichiban as best jap restaurant here, but what I meant was I kinda got a little bit more than what I was paying, it's more of a value/quality/standard for money over here. So I am gonna give it an excellent for overall.
I am really thankful of the redeeming and pleasant experience there.
Actually this is my first time eating Ajisen since that one day all my friends said it suck.
One very important friend said it doesn't suck as much as I think. So I decided to give it a second chance.
It's mom's bday month so she signed up to be a member at $5, so as to enjoy future discounts and also bday month's 15% discount.
I ordered some pork ramen set (like those canned braised pork that is expectedly not fresh and hard) and good thing that at $14something it is a set with refillable Green Tea and a side dish which I chose Terriyaki Chicken.
Ramen is hard as hell, soup base was good but a little too oily, pork is inedible, but edible if u like those canned kinds. That piece of half hard boiled egg was as though it got kept for one night...self explanatory. Green Tea is bag kind...
Oh well, I should stop complaining as it's kinda cheap so yea.
My mom order a bento set that has soft shell crab, but she said that it is not as 'smooth' as ichiban...and elsewhere...I guess I kinda get it. Bento's agedashi tofu was, not agedashi-ed, and she ordered a promotional item which was a sotong with glutinous rice in it, as soon as that dish came, my stomach got upset and felt like puking for the rest of my dinning experience as it was so stale, it smelt like a basket of dead sotong. (Probably I exaggerated a little bit) but it really stinks... I can still smell it omg.
Totally not worth it.
Mummy said that though price range very affordable for students (a little lower than ichiban), but she also added that if by add about $5 more dollars to our set we can get fresher and better quality food, she'll gladly stick to ichiban branches.
(cos our neighbourhood is flooded with ichiban lol)
Not likely to patronise again. (probably the whole chain)
Had the opportunity to be part of the Gourmet Safari Tour hosted by SPH at The Central over the weekend. Together with Leslie from ieatishoot fame, we were ushered to 4 different Japanese restaurants within the mall to sample their various specialties, with Wakashachiya being the first stop.
Located on the third floor of Central, Wakashachiya originates from Nagoya city and specialises in Japanese curry udon noodles. The paneled simply done up interior is smallish and can probably squeeze in about 30 pax or so.
Tebasaki - Nagoya city is well known for its Tebasaki, which is essentially deep fried batterless chicken wings with a coating of sweet and spicy sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds and black pepper. And being from Nagoya, Wakashachiya serves this delicacy as well. The wings, though small, packed a savoury punch from the myriad of different flavours all fused together. Sublimely sweet, salty and spicy. A pity the wings were so small and oily. Its $5 for 4 wings by the way.
Hitsu-mabushi - This dish was seriously a case of aesthetics over taste. Served up in a huge pot lookalike container, the lid went off to reveal neatly sliced pieces of unagi, cooked to a beautiful crisp as evident by the charred bits on the shimmery surface. However taste wise, I personally felt that it could have been better. For one, the unagi was too soft and disintegrated easily, lacking the firm and crisp texture that I personally like. The daishi soup (fish stock made from bonito flakes) and the plump chewy rice was good though.
Curry Udon with sides of Tonkatsu, Chicken, Tomatoes and Ebi Tempura
- The dish that Wakashachiya apparently is known for - Japanese curry udon. Wakashachiya's curry tended towards the bland side and didn't seem coagulated enough for my liking. The udon was good though, thick and chewy without making me feel like I'm chomping down on flour. Some work needs to be done on the sides though, with the Tonkatsu coming across as hard and dry while the batter encrusting the chicken was overly salty and oily. Same goes for the ebi tempura, with the batter leaning towards the thick side. The tomatoes were, well, just diced fresh tomatoes.
1=SGD 0.0587
The same night of cake adventure hunting before we went to Grand Hyatt’s Mezza9. My secret food partner and i went in to Marriot pastry shop at the lobby to inquire whether they have any promotions for their cakes, but they only have half price for their pastries. And the staff were already packing up, so there’s only a few selections left.
Banana Muffin ($1.50 after half price)
Such a big muffin for only $1.50, grab one after 9pm!
Muffin ($1.50 after half price)
We brought two muffin since there were two types left.
Almond Crossiant ($1.75 after half price)
The nice look of the almond chips on the crossiant is what tempted us to bring it home.
Total bill for 2 muffins and 1 crossiant is $4.98 after half price promotion. Reasonably cheap for hotel standards pastries, sorry for the lack of details because we had the cakes from Mezza9 and were too full for the pastries here. My secret food partner took it home, and they were gone in an instant.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given:
Wessex village, a tranquil and peaceful estate in the leafy Portsdown Road area is no stranger to the art scene in Singapore. Recently, with the entry of some new restaurants, it is slowly becoming the “It” place to be.
This will be good news for my fellow “west-erners” since LIC always lament the fact that the east side has more good food. With Holland Village, Chips Bee garden, Greenwood Avenue, Sunset way, Rochester Park, and now Wessex Village, who says there isn’t good places to chill in the West!
But this may not be music to the ears to some others, people who enjoyed the quaint environment and would rather preferred Wessex Village not to become the next Dempsey, over-rated and over-populated.
Have no fret about that, because currently in Wessex Village, there is only Pietrasanta an Italian restaurant, Laurent’s Cafe & Chocolate Bar, Klee a cocktail bar, and Colbar a very old-school coffee shop.
My friend and i explored the serene area, we checked out Pietrasanta but my friend wasn’t in the mood for Italian delights, but the place looks great and will definitely try it the next time round.
We decided on Cicada, an art centric casual restaurant lounge.
Nestled amid lush green vegetations, Wessex Village is a colonial style residential area surrounded by open space and trees to provide a soothing and relaxing ambience.
The building structure there are mostly colonial style, and this is the same for Cicada in a colonial type of bungalow building.
Al fresco area in Cicada is also spacious and roomy, which makes it a great place for friends to chill out under the the natural environment surrounded by greens, the village feel.
A large group of Caucasians chilling out, but don’t be quite mistaken by this scene. According to the manager Ronald, their main customers are actually locals and not Caucasians, and most of them are people from other area rather than the residents in Wessex estate.
Seafood Mango Salad ($13.90)
Marinated seafood and honey balsamic dressing makes up the Seafood Mango Salad. The mango is sweet, and the prawn springy. The greens together with the sweet honey balsamic dressing opens up your taste bud for the meal.
Sauteed Organic Mushrooms ($5.90)
Mushrooms are always a tricky dish, cook for too long and the mushroom becomes over-cooked, while finish it too early the mushroom will fail to absorb the essence of the other ingredients.
The Sauteed Organic mushrooms have a slight hint of white wine, wild herbs and tomato taste.
Smoothie Oreo ($12)
The Oreo Smoothie isn’t good enough, the oreo bits are left too big to go through the straw, usually they will be crushed and mixed with milk. We gave the feedback and the manager Ronald told us the reason was due to fault in the blender that day.
However it is still quite unforgivable as this is a restaurant after all, and the least they can do is to notified us about the problem which unfortunately, they didn’t.
Butter Croissant toast with smoked salmon ($13.90)
The butter croissant toast besides with the smoked salmon, comes with alternatives in ham, bacon or sausages. The greens in the toast complement the smoked salmon salty taste.
However, we lamented the fact that the croissant toast is not cripsy enough, the bread is too soft, and same for the green. We felt that it will be better if there is crunchier greens like cucumber added in, for a more complete taste.
The mayonnaise sauce also threatens to spoil the smoked salmon, fresh avocado sauce will perhaps be a better option to go along with the smoked salmon. The sandwich is an otherwise good and hearty dish, if Cicada can improve on the small issues.
Penne Pasta with seafood ($24.50)
The most expensive pasta on the menu, no doubt so with the ocean prawn, scallops and calamari in spicy marinara sauce. Different type of pasta suits different type of base, tomato base spaghetti is the only choice to go with it. Well for a spicier version, the penne pasta works well.
The first savor of the Penne pasta with seafood is excellent, the spicy sauce together with the oceanic taste floods our taste bud. However, the dish seems to lack in something, because after a while we got a little sick of the dish as it starts to be overwhelming.
Cicada Club Sandwich ($15.90)
The Cicada Club sandwich consists of bacon, lettuce, tomato, weisswurst sausage in focaccia bun. The bacon and sausage is decent, but again the use of mayo sauce here doesn’t quite complement the ingredients. Mayo will be better off when paired up with fried stuff.
Total Bill is $96.90 for the 2 of us. I think we sort of over-ordered given we had two appetizer, two sandwich, a pasta and a drink. The sandwich ranges in the tens, while pastas are in tens to twenty. The drink is definitely no go, while the sandwiches can really be better. And for once, i didn’t have any room for desserts.
I checked out the dinner menu as well, while lunch at Cicada is causal and simple food, dinner is more sophisticated with more selections of mains in the high twenty range. According to the manager, the atmosphere for dinner is more romantic and the area more closed up for more coziness.
We found the day-time area to be too ‘open’. Cicada should be going for the french open space concept, but this does not really encourage longer stay because the space is too bare and open. We believed that a more enclosed area, using different type of curtains can just do the trick.
All in all, Cicada promises a lot with its art-centric causal restaurant tag, but we ended up quite disappointed. Cicada certainly can be better, and hopefully the next time i dropped by Wessex, it will be a very different Cicada.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
” The next time, hopefully a very different Cicada “
Rating given:
People always say, never eat cakes after 9.30pm! But who cares about the calories that comes along with the sinful indulgence? LIC says, have your cake and eat it! Especially since premium hotel cakes are going at half price after 9.30pm!
My secret food partner and i decided to go on a cake-hunt as we recalled that some hotels have half price promotions on their cakes after a certain timing. We went to Marriot hotel first, after which we found ourselves at Grand Hyatt, Mezza9.
Tiramisu ($7, half price $3.5)
The Tiramisu here is reasonably moist, laced with a hint of coffee flavor that doesn’t overpower the sweet mascarpone. I like the subtle taste, as some tiramisu has a very strong wine taste.
Black Forest ($5, half price $2.5)
The huge cherry on top of the Black Forest was what tempted my secret food partner to buy it. Ttogether with the chocolate shavings by the side, its a delight to look at and eat. At such a huge slice, even at its original price of $5 its worth a try.
Strawberry Cheesecake ($5, half price $2.5)
Classic baked cheese cake with a strawberry jelly topping complete with ginormous (gigantic & enormous) strawberries! The oreo cookie base makes us felt like we were eating a cheesecake duo, we can taste the classic cheese cake flavor, and if eaten together with the oreo base, the taste becomes oreo cheesecake!
The Strawberry cheesecake itself was very filling though, creamy and rich!
Caramel cake ($4, half price $2)
We came to a common consent that the caramel cake is our least favourite among the four cakes. For one, it doesn’t have the caramel taste, rather there’s a strong hint of coffee. If you like coffee cake, this is probably the one to get.
Nevertheless, it look pretty and its the cheapest at $2 after half price promotion!
Croissants ($2, half price $1)
Besides the cakes, the baking items are also at half price after 8.30pm. We got the croissants for a dollar after promotion.
Total Bill is a mere $11.50 for 4 slices of cakes and 1 bread. The cakes at Mezza9 although not in the excellent league, but its definitely your premium hotel cakes after all, and at half price promotions they are certainly a steal!
Takeaway temptations, bring home Mezza9 freshly homemade products and enjoy half prices on bakery items from 8.30pm and sliced cakes from 9.30pm daily. 15% discount is also offered for whole akes from 9.30pm.
LIC will be looking to explore many more hotels to enjoy the half price promotions! Cakes and more cakes!
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
” More cakes, more cakes! “
Rating given:
Island cafe at the Tangs shopping mall at Vivocity. You might find the association of Island cafe and Tangs weird, isn’t Tangs the fashion lifestyle retailer? What does Island cafe has to do with it?
Recently we have seen the rebranding of Tangs, from the old perception of Tangs is a boring place to shop, to the new image of a hip and lifestyle concept retailer store.
Naturally, Tangs wanted its customers to stay longer in its shopping mall, so it came out with Island Cafe for its customers to enjoy a little meal in between their shopping sprees. Tangs is not the first to come out with such ideas by combing food and shopping, think PS cafe and you will get the idea.
Island Cafe features a medley of local and regional favourite food, with choices like curry chicken, laksa, showing evidence of the “asian-ness”
The place at Vivocity is at ground floor within their shopping area. Exuding a rustic and tropical feel, there’s a cozy ambience factor with the small enclosed area.
Having heard about Island Cafe, naturally i was curious about how it’s like as i have never come here before. We decided to give the place a try while we are at Vivocity.
One look at the menu though, i immediately regretted coming in. Reason is simple, the menu selection is too little seriously. They got two choices of starters with the crab bisque as one. Two sandwiches, and two pizzas to choose from. There is four main course selection, laksa, curry chicken, green curry marinara, and black pepper aglio olio. And thats it!
We didn’t quite fancy the items available on the menu, but since we were there already, we just ordered their Guacamole & seafood pizza to share among the three of us.
Guacamole & seafood pizza ($12)
Guacamole, prawns, crabmeat, tomatoes, tomatoes paste and mozzarella make up the Gucamole & seafood Pizza. It comes in two price, $9 for the 5.5″ snack size, and $12 for the 8″ meat size.
The pizza is all right i guess, quite cheesy, with the pizza base thin. But i suppose at $12, you can easily find better pizzas around for a bigger size.
Total Bill is $14.04 for one pizza. I definitely will not go back to Island Cafe because the selections are simply too few and too little. Prices are acceptable considering its a cafe, but most of the choices seems more like hawker-type of food.
Besides the one located within Tangs at Vivocity, there’s also another Island Cafe at Tangs in Orchard.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given:
Seng Kee Black Herbal Chicken Soup is located just opposite Kembangan MRT station. I happened to chance upon this zi-char restaurant because my friends had cravings for their mee-sua.
So another venture into the east side of Singapore for LIC, as i stay in the west and the east is so far away. But there are simple too much good food in the area, so you will be seeing more food from the east in the future!
The zi-char store has all of its seat on the street, its rather cooling but when bad weather comes then it will be very difficult as i don’t think there are much shelter from rain.
The store has quite a few selections of fish available for customers to choose, and with the method of cooking the fish. But we didn’t have any fish because we ordered crab already.
Mee Sua ($3.50)
The rendition of Mee sua at Seng Kee comes in a stronger flavour than the normal ones, with ingredients like pig kidneys, mushroom in it. The mee sua is smooth and silky to the mouth.
We had 5 bowls for each of us, and i saw most tables ordering this dish and at $3.50 its definitely worth a try.
Egg Omelette ($8)
$8 for an egg omelette dish at a zi-char store might be a tad too expensive, if I’m not wrong egg dishes usually are about 6 bucks? Nevertheless, the egg omelette is quite good and we finish it very fast.
Crab Bee Hoon ($38)
The crab bee hoon is usually done in soup, but here at Seng Kee they do it “dry”. We were quite shocked at the size of the crab when it came because usually crabs at zi-char stores goes in the region of $30 for 1kg?
But the one that we had is $38, and the small crab that we had is definitely not 1kg. I felt ripped off as the price tag is certainly too expensive for the size of the crab.
The bee hoon is not bad though, as it absorbs all the essence of the crab and all the juicy wet part is at the bottom of the bee hoon.
Total bill including drinks for 5 person comes up to $76.80. At initial look, for a zi-char store and considering we had 5 person, its definitely not expensive. But, looking at the amount of food that we had, the crab bee hoon was definitely over-priced.
I’m not too sure about their other dishes as i have not tried them and it will not be fair to judge base on this experience. But their mee sua is worth a try, do give their crab bee hoon a miss.
You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!
Rating given:
Ma Maison, which means my home in French, started out with an outlet at Bugis Junction and soon expanded to include one at The Central. Known for its take on Japanese Western food aka fusion food, Ma Maison packs in the crowds at meal times so don't be surprised if you have to wait for a seat if you arrive without a reservation.
Located just a few units down from Wakashachiya on the third floor, Ma Maison's interior is reminiscent of a quaint little European cottage with lots of wood, overhanging crockery and shelves of various liquids. The cozy cottage feel is further reinforced by replica ornaments of yesteryear placed along the wooden window sill. If you are lucky enough, you can get a window seat which overlooks Clarke Quay and the river, but there's probably only 5 such tables or so.
Doteni Hamburger - A signature dish of Ma Maison, the Doteni Hamburger was essentially a beef and pork patty covered with a fried egg, topped with beef tendons and draped with a demi glaze sauce that has been left to simmer for 28 days. And I liked it. The beef, though almost well done, was moist and juicy with a slightly uneven texture. The egg was perfectly done while the gelatinous beef tendon came across as a little chewy and not overly soft. Coupled with the robust sauce, it set the right note for our lunch.
Tonakatsu - After the horrendous tonkatsu experience at Wakashachiya just a couple of hours before, I was rather skeptical about the tonkatsu at Ma Maison. Those fears were put to rest as the pork cutlet turned out fine and surpassed expectations. Sure the meat wasn't kurobuta like Tampopo's, but it was still decently tender while retaining moisture and bite. There was no evident taste of oily residue either. The breaded batter could have been a wee bit thinner though, which would have made it crispier and less oily.
Beef Stroganoff with Omu Rice - My personal favourite. Who can resist tender beef slices served up in a thick savoury sauce coupled with smooth milky omelette enveloping fragrant and tasty buttery rice? If I'm coming back to Ma Maison, its definitely going to be for this dish. I would prefer a little more butter to go into the rice though, which would make it heartier and of course more artery clogging.
Squid Ink Spaghetti - Honestly I didn't quite take to the spaghetti. It wasn't al dente and came across rather bland. Maybe thats the way Japanese spaghettis are supposed to taste like, unlike the richer and more robust renditions from the Italians. If you like light stuff then this dish would probably suit you but do note that squid ink leaves a dark stain on your teeth so remember to rinse!
See all my pictures here.
Rating given:
NOTICE!!!!!
MOS IS CLOSED.
REFER TO REVIEW OF ZIRCA
___________________________________________
Hmm, Funny, no one reviewed MOS!
Alright. I am going to give 2 perspectives on this review.
Both on same day different date, almost same event, same amount of crowd.
General Comment:
Personally I hold due respect for MOS as the birthplace of one of my favourite genres of music: TRANCE (not MOS SG though).
To my dismay, MOS Sg's crowd is a R&B, HipHop loving crowd and I was sad to see the crowd literally overcrowding at that area. Seriously they could do better playing those MOS exclusive tracks and start taking Trance seriously and not just to be another corporate sell-out again. This is MOS for heaven's sake.
The TRANCE place right? not Hiphop place...argh.
1. As a normal young adult clubber:
My Dressing: Standard Female Clubbing attire.
-Queue is bloody long, waiting time is horrible.
-Door b**** is also very rude (pardon my word use, i don't know the other term).
-Gives a makes-you-very-pissed face when checking your ID.
-Payment bloody long.
-Terrible congestion at the entrance.
-Coupon/ticket oso can give wrong amounts (I paid for 3pax she gave me 2 pax)
-Place is overcrowded and I don't know why they still allow entry.
-Baggage counter FULL, and the baggage girl gave a sickening stare and yelled "FULL YOU DONO HOW TO READ ISIT?"
-Dancefloor was like a metal concert with jumping space only.
-Tons of people trying to touch/dance with you even after you say no to that same person/group.
-Straight faced bouncers giving you a GL face as if your forehead says "I AM NOT A VIP SO WHAT?" at the VIP section.
-Toilet bloody dirty and smelly, no toilet paper, omfg.
-Coupon to drink exchange experience, TOOK FOREVER and damn it bartenders!
2. VIP and Cannery Card member
My Dressing: V neck cleavage tee, Lee Jeans, Birkinstock SLIPPERS, no makeup. Slacker wear.
-at the VIP short or sometimes no queue, fast and efficent entry.
-minus payment cos I am VIP/member.
-Dancefloor as many people.
-Same old lame thick skin gang of people.
-Very charismatic bouncers at the VIP/members area opening up the area for you as if you have the word "VIP/member" on your forehead. They even chat with you lol.
- Purchasing/ordering a drink at VIP/members area: Charismatic bartenders attentively asking what you need and what is not available politely. Efficient cashiers even remembers to give me a discount.
- Area in VIP/members area small, cosy but still have some space for random dancing.
-Same toilet.
Seriously I don't know what to say about the double standards.
Maybe trying to make their membership worthwhile?
And I also don't know how to rate this place.
Rating given:
Heartwarming :)
Last year I tried this branch, after being a fan of ichiban for its service, affordability and standard (not for variety though).
To my dismay, the service was rather sluggish, and they were not attentive at all.
Food was not as good as the Plaza Sing one, soft shell crab was not crisp.
I gave it a second chance last week and I am really happy they took my feedback seriously.
I was greeted by a heartwarming and jovial crew, and they looked really busy and always on the look out to top up the tea, none was really slacking off.
Variety wise, it improved with its selection of sushi, but the others were like, any other.
Their waitresses proved to be very sweet and attentive, asking if we don't like anything in the meal, while making great recommendations although we already knew what we wanted...just testing her. She sounded like Ichiban's number one fan as if she tried everything.
As we always order the same old stuff, I was quite impressed that the standard is still there. (Although I wished that it will returned to its old 'atas' standard before it got franchised.)
Afterwhich she cleared everything that we finished, and upon eye contact she got the bill over.
I was an idiot for not asking for her name though.
Not saying Ichiban as best jap restaurant here, but what I meant was I kinda got a little bit more than what I was paying, it's more of a value/quality/standard for money over here. So I am gonna give it an excellent for overall.
I am really thankful of the redeeming and pleasant experience there.
Rating given:
Actually this is my first time eating Ajisen since that one day all my friends said it suck.
One very important friend said it doesn't suck as much as I think.
So I decided to give it a second chance.
It's mom's bday month so she signed up to be a member at $5, so as to enjoy future discounts and also bday month's 15% discount.
I ordered some pork ramen set (like those canned braised pork that is expectedly not fresh and hard) and good thing that at $14something it is a set with refillable Green Tea and a side dish which I chose Terriyaki Chicken.
Ramen is hard as hell, soup base was good but a little too oily, pork is inedible, but edible if u like those canned kinds.
That piece of half hard boiled egg was as though it got kept for one night...self explanatory.
Green Tea is bag kind...
Oh well, I should stop complaining as it's kinda cheap so yea.
My mom order a bento set that has soft shell crab, but she said that it is not as 'smooth' as ichiban...and elsewhere...I guess I kinda get it. Bento's agedashi tofu was, not agedashi-ed, and she ordered a promotional item which was a sotong with glutinous rice in it, as soon as that dish came, my stomach got upset and felt like puking for the rest of my dinning experience as it was so stale, it smelt like a basket of dead sotong. (Probably I exaggerated a little bit) but it really stinks...
I can still smell it omg.
Totally not worth it.
Mummy said that though price range very affordable for students (a little lower than ichiban), but she also added that if by add about $5 more dollars to our set we can get fresher and better quality food, she'll gladly stick to ichiban branches.
(cos our neighbourhood is flooded with ichiban lol)
Not likely to patronise again. (probably the whole chain)
Rating given:
Had the opportunity to be part of the Gourmet Safari Tour hosted by SPH at The Central over the weekend. Together with Leslie from ieatishoot fame, we were ushered to 4 different Japanese restaurants within the mall to sample their various specialties, with Wakashachiya being the first stop.
Located on the third floor of Central, Wakashachiya originates from Nagoya city and specialises in Japanese curry udon noodles. The paneled simply done up interior is smallish and can probably squeeze in about 30 pax or so.
Tebasaki - Nagoya city is well known for its Tebasaki, which is essentially deep fried batterless chicken wings with a coating of sweet and spicy sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds and black pepper. And being from Nagoya, Wakashachiya serves this delicacy as well. The wings, though small, packed a savoury punch from the myriad of different flavours all fused together. Sublimely sweet, salty and spicy. A pity the wings were so small and oily. Its $5 for 4 wings by the way.
Hitsu-mabushi - This dish was seriously a case of aesthetics over taste. Served up in a huge pot lookalike container, the lid went off to reveal neatly sliced pieces of unagi, cooked to a beautiful crisp as evident by the charred bits on the shimmery surface. However taste wise, I personally felt that it could have been better. For one, the unagi was too soft and disintegrated easily, lacking the firm and crisp texture that I personally like. The daishi soup (fish stock made from bonito flakes) and the plump chewy rice was good though.
Curry Udon with sides of Tonkatsu, Chicken, Tomatoes and Ebi Tempura
- The dish that Wakashachiya apparently is known for - Japanese curry udon. Wakashachiya's curry tended towards the bland side and didn't seem coagulated enough for my liking. The udon was good though, thick and chewy without making me feel like I'm chomping down on flour. Some work needs to be done on the sides though, with the Tonkatsu coming across as hard and dry while the batter encrusting the chicken was overly salty and oily. Same goes for the ebi tempura, with the batter leaning towards the thick side. The tomatoes were, well, just diced fresh tomatoes.
See all my pictures here.
Rating given: